


Anterograde

by FireDragon1321



Category: Catrap
Genre: Amnesia, Another Oldie But a Goodie, Anterograde Amnesia, Catrap - Freeform, Experimental, Pitman, What The Hell is a Fourth Wall?, Wow I appear to be the first person in this fandom, gender neutral player, i love how a03 can let you put in any tag you want so i can write pointless crap like this, it's some old Game Boy game from 1990, it's very hard though, which i beat and you should totally play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 02:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13848264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireDragon1321/pseuds/FireDragon1321
Summary: Anterograde amnesia- The loss of the ability to create new memories. While long-term memories of the past remain, people with anterograde amnesia are unable to create new memories.





	Anterograde

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is kinda old, but still fairly good for an experimental piece. It's also the first Catrap story on the archive (I think- it wasn't in the list of fandoms when I made this). 
> 
> So the idea of this fic is that this is based on a game that used passwords (so an old one). Every time the game turns off, the main character- Catboy- forgets what happened the last play-through. When the password is entered, he sometimes remembers things again- and sometimes not clearly or at all. His memory is essentially tied to the password, hence I came up with this idea.
> 
> Disclaimer- This is not a guide on how anterograde amnesia actually works. It is an experimental piece of fiction based on a puzzle game from 1990. That is all.
> 
> Catrap was originally created by Asmik. It is not my game, these are not my characters, blah blah.

_Anterograde amnesia- The loss of the ability to create new memories. While long-term memories of the past remain, people with anterograde amnesia are unable to create new memories._

 

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

No, wait. He was actually on Puzzle Twelve.

He was a brand-new game, the pinnacle of technology. He was unaware what happened to his brothers and sisters in the factory and honestly did not care. He was in his prime. There was no need to worry.

All he had to do was solve one hundred puzzles with the player’s help and he would be freed from the curse that monster placed upon him. He cheerfully pushed blocks, dug through soil and beat up monsters at the player’s command. Sometimes, he’d have the odd feeling that he solved a particular part of the puzzle before, but he brushed it off. Even when the sense of deja-vu set in three and four times.

He solved a whopping ten puzzles and was feeling mighty proud of himself when the player shut the game off, leaving him in the darkness of sleep.

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

No, wait. He was actually on Puzzle Twenty-Two.

How could he forget that he completed ten puzzles yesterday, and twelve the day before? Deciding to forget about it, he rushed into the labyrinth to solve more puzzles. One day, he would be rid of these long cat ears and the tail he was constantly tripping on.

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

No, wait. He was actually on Puzzle Forty-One.

The sense of deja-vu was so much worse with this puzzle. He felt like he was doing the same thing over and over again, in a variety of different ways and ending up with the same result. He tried to solve the puzzle- for the player!- and wound up with one monster on the ledge, leering down at him.

Blink. White.

Today was his first time trying to solve Puzzle Forty-One.

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

He had to solve all one hundred puzzles if he was going to turn back to normal. Yet, there was an odd sense of frustration within him. Had he done this puzzle before? It seemed familiar. And it was insultingly simple as well. He could do better than this! He owed the player that much!

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

No, wait. He was actually on Puzzle Thirty-Seven.

He needed Catgirl to solve this puzzle. She always stood there, blankly, a platform for him to stand on.

Blink. White.

She seemed to have moved the block he currently stood on, then moved to its immediate left, creating a bridge to the last monster. When had she done that? Maybe he wasn’t paying attention. In any case, Catgirl was pretty smart for thinking this up. Or, rather, it was the player who controlled them.

He finished off the monster quickly, thanking the player for working so hard and not giving up on them.

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

How many years had he been on Puzzle One? It felt like at least ten years, but that couldn’t be right. He was a brand-new game! He was just activated today, for God’s sake!

No, he wasn’t. He was on Puzzle Fifty-Nine.

But that wasn’t right either. Now he was on Puzzle Forty-Two.

Sixty-Eight.

Thirty-Three.

He couldn’t think. His head was fuzzy, full of blocks and bars.

He crashed.

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

No, wait. He was actually on Puzzle Seventy-Nine.

But he could swear he was really on Puzzle One, that the other seventy-eight puzzles never happened and were never explored. He felt like there was something wrong- really wrong- but tried to ignore it.

After several confusing transitions he couldn’t remember, Puzzle Seventy-Nine was done. There were only twenty puzzles left! Hopefully, he and the player could beat them.

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

No, wait. He was actually on Puzzle One-Hundred.

How could he not remember his excitement upon revealing the final room? He thought he should be excited, but there was nothing in his memory but a complete and utter blank.

He could not remember how he got here, or all the puzzles that came before. Maybe Catgirl would know, but he never saw her between puzzles, and she was always so silent and still during them. How could he talk to her? How could he ask if she remembered?

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

No, wait. He was actually on Puzzle One-Hundred. Again.

The player just couldn’t get them through this one. It was impossibly hard to do. He’d spent so long working on it that he forgot why he was even trying to complete the puzzles in the first place. Something about his ears? His tail?

How many years was it?

No, that was a silly question. He’d just left the factory.

But really, how many years was it?

He tried to think. The year was 1990, according to the game. But he had the odd sensation that it wasn’t 1990, that many years went by.

How silly. He’d just left the factory. The year was 1990. The game said it, plain as day itself.

It was always 1990. 

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One.

No, wait. He was actually on Puzzle One-Hundred. 

And, by luck, he cleared it on his very first try! It felt like he’d maybe done it before, but that didn’t matter. It was just a feeling. He was on top of the world. Now he’d completed all the puzzles!

And now...now...now...something.

Before him was a crystal ball of sorts. Catgirl stood opposite this strange device. There were no monsters. It wasn’t a puzzle. He just ran to her, and she to him, until they finally reached the crystal ball that separated them.

A strange buzz filled his body. Something was happening to him- something very strange. The ears and tail he always wore suddenly vanished into thin air. 

“Wow! Thanks you your wisdom and courage, the curse put to us was solved! Thank you!”

The words left his and her mouths at the same time, without any control. At that moment, fear filled him. What would become of him now? The puzzles were done. The player was done.

It was all done.

And he left with Catgirl- although she couldn’t really be called that- out of the only home he’d ever really known. He wanted to turn back. It couldn’t be over. It couldn’t be! There was still more he had to do, things he had to remember.

“Thank you for your playing!”

Blink. White.

He crashed.

\--------------------------------------------

Today, he was on Puzzle One for the very first time.


End file.
